The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical connector having compound electrical terminals adapted for reliably accommodating solder balls.
As technology progresses, the functional requirements of electronic devices are becoming increasingly complicated, while the assembly process should be simplified. An electrical connector disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,178 includes a plurality of solder balls mounted to terminals and connected to a circuit board. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional electrical connector 1 includes an insulative housing 10 having a bottom surface 11. A plurality of conductive contacts 12 of the connector 1 are positioned in several rows of receiving cavities defined in the housing 10. Each solder ball 2 is positioned at a free end 13 of the corresponding conductive contact 12. When the connector 1 is correctly positioned on the circuit board, the solder balls 2 are heated and melted thereby attaching the connector 1 to the circuit board. However, the solder balls 2 are only engaged with a small portion of the free ends 13 of the contacts 12, thus the solder balls 2 may become easily detachable from the contacts 12. Upon heating, the solder ball 2 may not create an efficient electrical path with the proper contact 12 but may electrically engage with an adjacent contact 12 whereby adversely affecting signal transmission.